An etch-a-sketch on dope

Zoe Romano — September 9th, 2013

Arduino Facebook page is a great source of inspiration with plenty of people posting everyday about projects and experiments. Some days ago a user shared this interesting video about Magnetography, an alternative drawing toy using ferrofluid, a liquid which becomes strongly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field.

Magnetography, by Christian Robach, is built out of old DC-Motors, a frame filled with water and ferrofluids. The “pen” can be controlled by using the W-A-S-D letters on the keyboard allowing the users to play with the liquid metal without getting their hands dirty.
The commands are sent to the serial Port via Processing then Arduino UNO, with an Adafruit Motor Shield extension, reacts by powering the motors and moving the magnet according to the coordinates. Enjoy the video below: